Teen Pregnancy

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Teen pregnancy has dramatically decreased within the last decade because to the Increased used of contraception. In 2012, the National center for Health statistics recorded 29 births for every 1,000 girls, which has decreased since 1991 when 62 births per 1,000 girls was recorded. Although It has decreased, teen pregnancy remains at the highest rate In Industrialized countries such as the united States. Not only does teen pregnancy affect the young teen parent’s but the child as well.

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Young teens shouldn’t be in a rush to have children young while the teen is still a kid themselves. Teen pregnancy remains a problem because It decreases the chance for the child to grow up in a stable home with both parent’s around. Some teenagers chose abortion or adoption as an option, which can cause some guilt for the young teen mother. What might be some ways to reduce this teen pregnancy? Teaching young teens about the consequences that follow after having unprotected sex with somebody else gives the young teens the knowledge of prevention.

Having sex education, such as a speaker coming into the classrooms and talking about the ways to take care of oneself from pregnancy and Stir’s put into schools starting from when eons are in middle school to inform students sooner may reduce the problem in the way that students will be more cautious about what they can get themselves into. A clear difference is having young teens enroll In abstinence only programs.

In Robert Rectors article, The Effectiveness to Abstinence Education Programs In Reducing sexual Activity Among Youth, he claims that young teens that become sexually active are In high risk of getting emotionally and physically damaged. Young teens, especially girls, may feel regret or guilt after having their first sexual intercourse which causes and emotional damage within them. If the young teen catches and SST, he or she may feel less confident and less desirable sexually, according to the Medical Institute of Sexual Health 80% of young teens that caught herpes felt this way.

Another distinction is that according to the Pediatrics magazine, teens that were

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reported having sex at an early age, were more likely to get involved with drugs and alcohol. Sexually active boys from the ages of 12-16 were reported 4 times more likely to smoke and 6 more times likely to drink alcohol than those who were virgins. With girls ages 12-16 as well, were reported 7 more times likely to smoke and 10 more mimes likely to smoke marijuana. Because of this report, the assumption has been made that sexually activity tat young age causes other health endangering behaviors than those who aren’t sexually active.

While a young teen is still in high school and gets pregnant, than being pregnant young might reduce the chance of them being able to graduate it they drop out because they have to take care to a baby. According to clement, she wrote that the child Trends, a nonprofit research group, stated that only 51 percent of teen moms got their diploma before the age of 22, whereas 89 percent of girls who weren’t teen moms graduated. Once a teen has a child, she wont be about to do fun activities like other students her age since she has to take care of a baby.

Some don’t even get their diplomas until later on in life. I an AAA first and then my BAA. I balance my life with friends and family, school, work, and sleep and that is already a tight schedule for me. If I were too add a baby to that schedule I would have to give up a couple things and I wouldn’t want to do that right now. I have also witnessed on the TV show, Teen Mom, how a young single teen mom struggled on getting her GEED because she had to take care of her child and go wrought pointless drama from the father of her child, which kept her distracted.

Eventually the girl from Teen Mom got her GEED but let’s say she didn’t get pregnant young, she would have gotten her diploma at the time she was supposed to. On the other hand, sex education should be put into schools to inform teenagers about how important it is to be protected. Teenagers not only need to be protected from pregnancy but also from diseases and Stir’s that can be transmitted when having sex without a condom. A condom can be used when a sexual activity isn’t really planned but both partners want to be protected. Stated by Hock in the Human Sexuality textbook, condoms act as a barrier to prevent semen from entering the vagina.

Talking to each other before having intercourse about safe sex is a great way to prevent unwanted pregnancy. By explaining the use of the variety of protection there is, it can reduce pregnancy and prevent diseases from spreading around. Having the knowledge of what condoms are used for can also reduce pregnancy. Condoms aren’t the only method to reduce pregnancy but they are the only method to prevent Stir’s from spreading. There are also programs such as Planned Parenthood, which help young people out by giving them contraception’s like condoms or birth control.

They also talk to individuals about the dangers and consequences of not using protection. When a young teen finds out she is pregnant, she is most likely scared to tell her family members and will try to keep it a secret until she starts showing. Weiss stated that since the young girls body is still growing and developing, she would need more nutritional support when pregnant for her and her unborn child. But since some girls don’t tell their parent’s until later on in the regency, the lack of nutrition will affect both the mother and child.

That’s why it’s important to have a planned pregnancy or at least be in a stable environment so that the mother get’s the right nutrition and her child is born healthy. On the other hand, although some girls wish they had waited to have a child there are other young teens that are glad that they had their baby young. Depending on the mentality of the teen, most teen would say that having a child young has changed them for the better. I know a young mom that had her child at 17 and right now she is working and going to school. She would tell me that her son is her motivation for wanting to be the best in moving forward.

She goes out once in awhile when she wants to have fun and has someone take care of her son but other then that she doesn’t take him with her in environments that isn’t really good for the child. A child who is born too teen mom also has a higher risk of having emotional and social difficulties. Coma states that the American Academy of Pediatrics said that children of teen moms have a 31 percent chance of being depressed and 25 percent chance of being young parent’s themselves. The brain doesn’t fully develop until the mom is 24.

So when a female has a child young, her brain isn’t fully developed and isn’t able to provide the stability that a child needs for their behavior and activities. Also when a mother is young, she harder because she has to take care off baby. I know a couple of people who still go out and bring their child around the partying and having fun environment that I know I wouldn’t want for my child. People think that Just because a baby doesn’t understand and won’t remember that it won’t affect them but in reality it does. The first 5 years of a child’s life is when they absorb the most information and learn a lot f vocabulary and behaviors.

In a like manner, when a young teen finds out she is pregnant, she may want to choose abortion as an option since for her it will be the easy way out. According to the Pregnancy Care Center, 78% of teenage pregnancies are unplanned and 35% chose abortion as their option. Some teenagers are forced to getting an abortion by her parent’s or boyfriend although they might not want to. This causes pain within the young teen that she can’t take back. Once a teen aborts, there is no way for her to take the abortion back. Just because a teen aborts once isn’t mean that other people should Judge her because of the choice she has made.

Some teens really do feel like that is the best option for them because of the home situation they are living in or other circumstances such as to how and with who it was conceived by. In Carl Gain’s article, The Question of Abortion: A Search for Answers, he states how we humans raise farm animals for slaughter, kill deer and elk for a sport, etc. But what is trying to be protected is not life but human life. Even with that protection for humans who aren’t born yet, there are children 5 and under ho die from starvation, dehydration, disease, and neglect but they aren’t protected equally like the unborn babies.

Eagan explains how people who are pro-lifers, meaning that abortion is murder from the moment it is conceived, must decide what distinguishes humans from animals and when a human is considered a human being because of the qualities the fetus has and the time it does. In the Roe v. Wade case, the abortion law was changed. The decision made in the Roe v. Wade allows woman to abort without restrictions in the first trimester and some restrictions in the second trimester due to the woman’s health. This allows states to forbid abortion in the third trimester unless the fetus is causing a serious threat to the mother and her health.

In Texas, Wendy Davis is known for her 10 plus filibuster off state bill that bans abortions at 20 weeks of pregnancy. Because of Davis’ attempts to block the bill, she has gained fame and donations from pro-abortion groups from around the country. Davis states that she cares about the life of every child and worries how not every child has the right nutrition or proper education. Around 62% of Texas students support a ban on abortions at 20 weeks of pregnancy whereas 42% of Texas residents think that abortion should be illegal or legal if the woman was raped or there is a danger to the mothers health.

The majority of teenagers don’t plan on getting pregnant but it happens. And although teen pregnancy is decreasing, it is still a high rate here in the United States. Having sex education whether it is to use protection or stay abstinent until marriage will give teens the idea of what the consequences of choosing to have sex or not will have in their life. Not only does regency come from the use of unprotected sex but Stir’s can also be another result.

While an individual is young they don’t really seem to care about how serious these problems are since it hasn’t happened to them. But once it does then that’s when the young teen wished they would have waited or been more informed about the have raised their child in a better environment then the one they were since the environment affects how a child will grow up to be. But when one is already a teen parent the best they can do is talk to young folks and about the experience they had as a teen parent so they can try to reduce the statistics more.